Internship Blog Portfolio Entry #1

5. Learning Environment - The teacher fosters and manages a safe and inclusive learning environment that takes into account: physical, emotional and intellectual well-being.

5.1 Creating an Environment of Respect and Rapport

Teacher-student interactions are friendly and demonstrate general caring and respect. Such interactions are appropriate to the age and cultures of the students. Students exhibit respect for the teacher.

For Internship Blog Portfolio Entry #1, I was able to observe a middle school religious studies course.  The instructor informed me that she has been trying to incorporate moral teachings into her curriculum this year as a means of promoting discipline through self management.  I have used this opportunity to analyze category “5. Learning Environment: The teacher fosters and manages a safe and inclusive learning environment that takes into account: physical, emotional and intellectual well-being.” of the Internship Performance Criteria, (IPC), more specifically I have chosen to reflect on 5.1 Component 2a: Creating an Environment of Respect and Rapport.

I appreciated the opportunity to sit in this rowdy class of 35 mixed grade middle school students.  From the start of my observation, it was obvious to me that the instructor had developed a safe zone for her students, one in which they felt comfortable to share their ideas and contribute in a positive manner to the classroom dialogue.  The lesson was entitled Character Building, and the instructor explained to the students that she would like to help them become self-managers with high moral character.  She defined the concepts of morality and character.  Students raised their hands to give personal examples of good character.  I liked how she avoided dwelling on bad character and rather encouraged the discussion toward the good character we are all aiming to attain.  The instructor went on to explain that over the course of the school year students would be analyzing numerous different branches of good character, today the focus was on kindness.

Per Fay & Fink (1995), …to have a class of kids that you know could be left for a time and would honor your request to work… something more powerful than external enforcement must exist.  That something consists of internal controls and values.  They are much more powerful” (p.65).  This thinking is in line with the philosophy of this religious studies teacher.  I saw that she sincerely wanted to help these adolescents mature into young adults with strong internal values.  She passed out a paper that was placed in a plastic protective cover and had all of the students insert it in the front of their binders (please refer to picture below of bulletin board).  The paper was entitled Kindness and it not only defined kindness but also gave examples of how to be kind.  After a lively discussion students lined up and walked down the hall to their new “Kindness Graffiti” wall.  This was such a wonderful idea.  Students were encouraged to stop by this hall whenever they witnessed kindness from others or if they felt they had done a kind deed and post it on the wall.  Paper and pens were provided.   The students loved the idea of including their own thoughts on this wall and were clamoring to get the opportunity.  My photo is of the second day, already there are several “kind notes” posted.

This teacher's strategy seemed to be quite effective in making the students think at a higher level of consciousness.  I am not sure if it will act as an end all be all for curbing poor behavior or even unkind behavior, however, I think it will cause many students to at least reflect on their behavioral choices, the choices of their words, and the way their behavior effects those around them.  This instructor really had a heart of gold and her interactions with students reflected genuine respect and caring for them as individuals. The students openly shared some painful acts of being treated in a not kind manner and some even admitted to having not been kind with regret.

As I reflect on how to take this wonderful curriculum edition to the next level of effectiveness, I was thinking it would be great to incorporate the other disciplines.  This would allow students to understand the importance of the subject matter and encourage long term change and growth.  In researching one way of incorporating these ideas into the classroom I came across the Teaching Tolerance classroom resource.  This is a project put together by the Southern Poverty Law Center.  They seem to offer a plethora of free curriculum kits and offer teachers all of the resources they need to successfully inculcate the general practices of respect and caring into our students.

Fay, J., & Funk, D. (1995). Teaching with love & logic: Taking control of the classroom. Golden, CO: Love and Logic Press.

http://www.tolerance.org/